"it's COOKIE TIME" part 2~ Taste Testing, Song Singing, and Poster Making!

Our Girl Scout troop meeting this week continued on the theme of Girl Scout Cookie Selling! To start off, we had snack, provided by Kara's mom, Roni, THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

After snack we opened with our Girl Scout Promise and a quick memory refresher of the eight types of Girl Scout Cookies we are selling this year: Thin Mints, Carmel deLites, Peanut Butter Patties, Peanut Butter Sandwiches, Shortbreads, Lemonades, Thanks a lots, and Shout Outs. After a quick pop quiz to see if the girls remembered the names of the cookies, they got to taste samples of each type~ mmm-mmm good!

Girl Scout Cookies~ Yum, Yum, Yum!
Our favorite cookie song!
(sung to the tune of "are you sleeping")

Girl Scouts making posters to help promote their cookies during direct and booth sales!

We have some very creative Girl Scouts!



Our initial order of cookies was 175 cases (2100 boxes of cookies) which we received less than a week ago. Since then, we have run out of troop inventory and had to put in two additional orders totaling an additional 175 MORE cases! They seem to be blowing out the door!
GREAT JOB, GIRLS (and parents!)

...we have made multiple trips to get more cookies!
We are blessed to have the support of school administration to use Coach Campbell's PE office in the school gym, having access to the space on an as needed basis during our cookie season!
Thanks Mr. Campbell, you ROCK!

"Organized chaos"???
...getting cookie's checked out to the girls.

Brownie Girl Scout Kara's dad, calling mom, Roni, to double check "how many more Carmel deLites do I need to get?"

By the looks of things, the girls have easily doubled the original goal set in early December of 2100 boxes. As of this post we will sell the 4,200 boxes we currently have/had in our possession(and maybe even a bit more than that as the girls continue as selling machines!)

Stay tuned... pictures of our booth sales will be posted soon.

Sweet Success: How To Sell Like A Girl Scout

GREAT ARTICAL from March 2010 ~ The Worcester Business Journal,

From reading “The Art of War” to participating in lofty corporate retreats, successful business people tend to find advice or valuable, usable information in many different places and from many different sources.

One source that may be overlooked, though, is the Girl Scouts of America.

Nationwide, the annual Girl Scout cookie sale, which takes place between Jan. 15 and March 31, will generate more than $700 million. In the scouts’ Central and Western Massachusetts region, 14,000 Girl Scouts are expected to move nearly 1.2 million boxes of cookies.

To call the sale anything but a highly successful business venture is failing to do it justice. To dismiss the lessons the scouts learn while taking part in the sale is to do one’s business a real disservice.

The scouts’ advice is in some cases practically the same as the advice sold by any number of corporate strategy hawkers, marketing gurus, grand poobahs, evangelists or ninjas. In many cases, it’s better.

“It shows you that the power of networking is incredible,” said Richard Kennedy, president and CEO of the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce and purchaser of countless boxes of thin mints.

“They engage every civic organization, every neighbor and friend, and it’s almost embarrassing not to buy them,” Kennedy said. “If one comes by, you buy from her. If 10 come by, you buy from 10.”

So, what are the lessons business leaders can learn from the Girl Scouts as they embark on their annual cookie sale? We’ll let the scouts themselves, namely Elizabeth Anderson and Hannah Schur of Westborough give the answers:

Perseverance
“The cookie sale is right in the middle of winter, and it’s cold; I spend hours on it. It takes up all of my weekends for two months,” Anderson, a 16-year-old high school sophomore, said. But it’s worth it. In the last three years, Anderson has sold about 4,000 boxes of cookies.

Promotion
“Don’t be afraid to promote your products,” Anderson said. “I would go door to door and I would be so afraid that people would just kick me out, but if people want a product,” they’ll buy it.

Be Nice
“You should always be nice to any customers,” said Schur, an eighth grader. “Even if they don’t buy anything, be polite, because they might become future customers.”
Anderson said, “Be friendly and talk to people. Some girls in the troop are really enthusiastic, and some are not.” But when it comes time to tally up the sales, “you can tell who’s been sitting there with their arms crossed, because they sell half as much.”

Be Empathetic
“Put yourself in the customer’s shoes,” said Schur. “Do everything you can to be convenient to customers,” Schur said.
By being convenient, Schur is hoping to hit the biggest sales goal she’s had in her eight years selling cookies. In the past, she’s averaged about 360 boxes per year. Now, she’s shooting for about 700.

Be Opportunistic
“Even thought I wanted to be home, I went out on Super Bowl Sunday to get more sales. Who doesn’t want Girl Scout Cookies while watching the football game?” Schur said.

The Incentives
Schur, in setting her ambitious goal of 700 boxes of cookies, knows what’s at stake. At 1,500 boxes, scouts get a Wii game system.
“The incentives are not really that big until you get to 1,000,” Schur said. At 700, though, more money out of each sale goes toward Schur’s goal. She’s saving to attend the “100 Years of Girl Scouting” event in Washington, D.C., in 2012.
Anderson has been very successful. With her sales numbers and a successful application essay picked from among the essays of scouts from across the country, she was able to take one of the scouts’ “Destinations” trips to Costa Rica last summer.

Great Video~

ABOUT OUR COOKIES~

"it's COOKIE TIME!"

It was great seeing everyone back from our holiday break. We began our meeting with snack and drink graciously provided by mom's Jessica R. and Lisa S. THANK YOU! for your "snack time" contribution.

After snack, we briefly recapped the challenge the girls were given at the end of our last troop meeting in December. The challenge?...

Try to "give away" the gifts of kindness and love at least once a day (to family, friends, and strangers) over the holiday season. These gifts could be a simple smile, happily helping with chores, a kind compliment, etc.

The girls shared different ways they accomplished this challenge over the Christmas break. The girls were reminded that gifts of kindness and love throughout the entire year are actually part of the Girl Scout Promise.

We all stood together and recited the Girl Scout Promise to officially open our troop meeting.

OUR TROOP MEETING~

Our meeting was about learning the 8 types of cookies we will be selling this cookie season (from ABC Smart Cookies). We discussed goal setting, being prepared for selling, *the order form, and the incentive program (which is "cumulative" this year- meaning if a Girl Scout sold 200 boxes of cookies, they would receive the Friendship Bracelet Kit in addition to all the incentives before it: Digital Calculator, Mini FM Radio, Set of 5 Appliques, & Theme Patch.) *Please review your order form for a detailed list and pictures of incentives, for the cookie information, and safety guidelines.

We learned a new cookie song "Yum, Yum, Yum" and the girls were given a song sheet with this song and two others on it and challenged to try to learn the songs by next troop meeting. The challenge is on!!! Let's see how the girls will do...

"Yum Yum Yum"
[Tune: Are you sleeping?]

Girl Scout Cookies,
Girl Scout Cookies,

Yum, Yum, Yum,
Yum, Yum, Yum

Eat 'em by the dozen,
Eat 'em by the dozen

They're all gone,

They're all gone.[Source: Unknown]

"Girl Scout Cookies"
[Tune: Macarena -- complete with dance motions! ]

Buy some Girl Scout cookies

They are sooooo yummy

You can eat 'em all day

Ooooohhhh, Girl Scout cookies!!

Girl Scout cookies

Three fifty a box

They're so yummy

Buuuuyyyy lots!!

[Source: Dreamt up by (literally!) Rachel in Troop 343 from Scottsdale, AZ]

"Cookie Sale Song"
[Tune: Battle Hymn of the Republic: 1861]

We're selling Girl Scout cookies,

Yes, it's Girl Scout Cookie time!

"Would you like to buy some?"

Is our cookie selling line.

We've got lots to choose from,

Don't you see your favorite kind?

We thank you very much!

Glory, glory we are Girl Scouts!

Smiling, cookie selling Girl Scouts!

Please buy cookies, you can help us.

We can't eat them all ourselves!

[Source: words: Pam Gibson, Citrus Council (FL); music: W. Steffe ]

As a simple craft to celebrate "Cookie Time", we made buttons the girls are encouraged to wear during cookie selling season:

Kit bought at Hobby Lobby for $4.99
(12 buttons in a kit)

Logos were printed off the ABC Smart Cookie website cut to fit the button and then snapped in place to complete the project.
Check out the website for MANY other neat clip art designs to make your own variety of buttons! (go to "Art Gallery" then click "Illustrations" - we got this one in "Logos")

This is Jessie's creation on her Brownie vest.

LAST~ We encourage all our Girl Scouts to explore the ABC Smart Cookie web site for fun games, motivation, ideas, and information. There area areas for each level and like mentioned earlier in this post, a great place to record and monitor their goals!

http://www.abcsmartcookies.com

REMINDER: Cookie selling begins Sunday, Jan. 16. (please do not start before this date) Booth sales begin Friday, Jan. 21. The last day of Cookie Sales is Sunday, Feb. 27.

Watch your email for upcoming information on troop cookie pick up and booth sale dates/times.

THANK YOU, parents, for supporting your Girl Scout in this wonderful opportunity and experience.